What are you're thoughts on recreational hunting?

Here's the thing. In my state of Pennsylvania, every year, schools are closed on the first day of deer season. I cant drive down the road without seeing a bloody carcass laying in the back of someone's pickup truck this time of the year.

Have you ever wondered why we still hunt? Or better yet, why do we do it for fun? Scientifically speaking, we our omnivores and hunting wild game is not necessary. Especially considering all of the processed foods that we have today. I'm not going to lie..I love venison. lol I just find it completely ridiculous to actually make a sport out of hunting.

There are various reasons most people give for going out hunting this time of the year. Most people say it is to enjoy nature. My thoughts are...cant you enjoy nature without killing it? People often go hunting because of family tradition, or maybe just the thrill of it all. you know, as if being a complex being with a gun is a fair fight.

Also, I find it a little disturbing how desensitized people are to killing living things. We are all living
things, what makes a human more sacred? And what is it about the human mind that gets pleasure out of making the kill? Is it an acomplishment? A right of passage? Probably. Personally, I just think that it goes to show us how barbaric we as humans still are. Some of us in particular have a lot more evolving to do.

Here's something else. I find it interesting how our government gets to make a profit off of our licenses to go hunting every year. The department of conservation even says that hunting is necessary to control the population of wild game. What exactly are they afraid of? Natural balance? Why do they feel that we have to play god?

I used to go hunting. I grew up into it. Every male member of my father's side of the family has been hunting ever since they were twelve years old, and until recently, I was no exception. I never really liked it. not because I'm vegan, or obsessed with animal rights or anything, I just never enjoyed getting up early in the morning and freezing my ass off in the woods for hours on end. That's another point. What kind of hunting is it when all you have to do is sit there with a loaded firearm? ah, but I am getting off of the subject again. anyway, the reason I went hunting when I was younger was because of our family tradition, but mostly because my father worked a lot of hours and the only time I got to spend with him, were our hunting trips to the cabin.

I hunt almost every year so my view is not exactly middle of the road on this. I find it strange when people complain about hunting but have no problems with cheeseburgers or bacon. Wild game can at least run and hunting is not a sure thing. You may get something and you may not. The way they kill cows for your combo meal at micky D's is the real horror. They live in stink and shit til they put a metal spike or high voltage to the cows head and it's "welcome to McDonald's, may I take your order". I hunt to eat healthier meat and have a better diet. I also NEVER kill game that I don't eat. I have a BIG problem with people that kill lions, bears, foxes and other game they wont eat. As far as deer go they check the animals year around for illness and kill the sick to keep it from wiping out the population. they set up cameras and feeders and gps tag some to keep up with numbers travel patterns and health. Because of humans taking all there natural habitat we must manage there numbers. To many leads to starvation, disease and decline in the genetic material. Though some don't like hunters, they love to see people put animals in cages if there are only 12 left and bring the numbers up to say 1000 then it was an act of kindness but control the population in the wild and your a bad guy. If you like hunting you support it, if you don't you condemn it? I bet you if the population is in danger they stop the season for a few years. Ok, my rant is over too.

Clearly we have had vastly different experiences with drugs! I too come from a small community (Glastonbury, UK), but one where drug use is widespread & openly done. In my experience drug use has always been a positive thing & I genuinely have gained a richer life from taking them.

I've learnt a hell of a lot from this discussion, I've always dismissed hunting out of hand before (largely due to my experience with fox hunting in the UK, which is genuinely pointless & barbaric). I think, as with our opinions on drug use, a lot of it comes down to context & intent, so I am glad to have been educated on the subject.

I can kind of see both sides on this. On the one hand, yes we are animals & animals eat other animals, so if you're hunting for food, fair enough. On the other hand, I like to think we are more evolved than that & the kind of mind that actually enjoys killing things? Thanks, but I'd rather not know you. Well maybe that's a bit extreme, but I definitely feel very uneasy about it.

To add a bit of personal history - I grew up on a smallholding & have killed (small) animals such as chickens. They had a brilliant life - I personally made sure of that - & were very well looked after. When the time came they were killed quickly & were not chased around & shot at. It was a job that had to be done, but with the minimum amount of stress to the animal.

I think a good life & a quick death is the important thing - after all we've all got to go sometime! What makes me feel a bit sick is all the dogs/chasing/potential for a bad shot - I don't care how good a hunter you are, sometimes you're going to take a bum shot. I think taking that risk is cruel.

When I think about this from the animal's perspective, I would far rather be a deer living in the wild and face the possibility of one day taking a bullet, or being taken down by a mountain lion, than I would want to be a steer in a feed lot, standing in my own excrement.

I live in north Louisiana, and hunting is a huge deal here too. I'm not much on hunting, but my dad does it pretty regularly. He's very ethical though. In fact, all of the hunters I know refuse to kill a doe if they see it has a fawn, and they also will not kill younger deer. My dad hunts enough to provide plenty of deer meat to both my immediate and extended family, and it never goes to waste. :)

I know I'm extremely late on here, but I wanted to put my 2 cents worth. People always reference to us being more evolved than that, but this doesn't even make sense. Evolution is purely used to make one stronger and survive. This always means death. I think it's become apparent that it's been too long since the human race has needed to fight for survival. We are the most evolved because of our weapons! Otherwise, we may have been killed off by another creature. Some people bring up the fact that animals work together, but this is only for their ultimate survival, so it's more of a selfish motive. I actually think it's because natural selection doesn't really occur to us anymore, that there are loving and kind people. Animals do not feel remorse when they kill, and who's to say they kill because they must? Are we not animals ourselves? If another animal evolved to be the superior, would they not do the same as us? We are the winners. We are the best... And that's only because of our might through our intelligence, but it's still might none the less.